St. Maarten

 9 November, 2024

We've been to St Maarten several times on previous cruises and have always enjoyed our visits. We've been to the Delft shop on the island on prior visits and have been fortunate enough to acquire a combination of large (~11x14 inch) tiles, tile mosaics, and antique tiles dating back to the late 1600's from a cache that was discovered in the corner of a warehouse in the 1990's. 

As previously mentioned we're not "beach people" these days, so we thought we'd give the Small Group Foodie Tour "Flavors of St Maarten" a go. We tend to arrange our own excursions as much as we book through the cruise, and this time we went with the cruise as a matter of convenience. Our guide from Rising Sun Tours, Natasha, met us on the pier and we took a short walk to our mini-bus, where we met our driver for the day, Leroy. 

It was a short ride to our first stop at the Amsterdam Cheese & Liquor store. We were directed to a room set up with cheese boards and glasses of sangria – an ambitious start to our morning! We were treated to samples of five varieties of Gouda; young, mature, aged, and two flavored selections. If you're a cheese fan (and especially if you like Gouda) you can't help but love this place. The gentleman leading our tasting was informative and thoroughly explained the differences between each type as well as describing the variations commonly found in Gouda made from different milks (primarily cow, sheep, and goat.) We purchased an almost unreasonable amount of cheese, which we justified by planning to have it for both Christmas and New Year's.

Our second stop was on the French side of the island, at Chez Fernand, where we enjoyed a LARGE plate consisting of four different pastries. The croissants were as light as air and perfectly buttery. The chocolate lava cake (which wasn't warm) was flavorful, but incredibly dense and macaroons were classic perfection. A fourth item, lost in translation, was a small yellow cake bite filled/covered with a caramel/vanilla cream. While the flavor was nice, it was quite chewy and also very dense. The quantity and quality of the food provided was excellent, but no one in our group of 20 even came close to consuming everything. A macaroon each, and a half-serving of all the other items would have been a generous amount. My best advice – bring an appetite! There's a large local market just across the street from the bakery, and the rocks at the waterfront are crawling (literally) with iguanas who will readily pose for photos.

After eating a nearly uncomfortable amount of baked delights Leroy drove us to the town of Grand Case, on the opposite side of the island from Phillipsburg, where you'll find a bastion of "lolos" (local bar & grills) along the waterfront.  Our destination was Sky's The Limit, one of six or eight establishments that are all clustered together in a flea-market-meets-food-truck amalgamation of olfactory overload. Emile, the proprietor, has won multiple awards in his category at BBQ competitions in the USA (most recently in Atlanta, as I understand) and after enjoying his chicken and ribs I have no difficulty believing this claim. Sauce? Not needed. The meat is perfectly cooked and the smoke and spices bring an amazing flavor with the slightest hint of heat. The fresh johnnycakes are the perfect sweetish-savory sidekick to the meats, but give them a moment to cool to avoid burns from the steam trapped inside. The potato salad has a well-rounded flavor, without "too much" of anything. I'm not a big fan of coleslaw, but I found their's to be light and tasty (I tend to eat more coleslaw with pulled pork than any other dish.) I enjoyed an SXM Lager with my light lunch-sized portion, which was amazing.

I had an opportunity to speak with Emile, who is the consummate restauranteur, and complement him on the quality of his BBQ. As a southern man, cooking meats over fire is a religion, and good work should be recognized and celebrated. In that spirit, being able to express thanks for his hospitality and delicious food wasn't just being nice, it was a moral imperative. There's also the chance that at some point in the future I could return, with a bit of elevated status from my initial visit. 

The north shore of St Martin faces the island of Anguilla, just across a ~9 mile channel. Some children take a ferry from Anguilla to St Martin to attend school, giving rise to "rough sea days" – in contrast to our "snow days" and "hurricane days" experienced in regions of the United States. Natasha came to the island as an adolescent, and Leroy as a young adult, so they were able to share a variety of insights and experiences about life on the island. During peak season (fall to spring) "rush hour" can result in hours-long traffic jams in some parts of the island, turning what would be a 15-20 minute drive into a 2+ hour ordeal. It's not uncommon for locals to sit out the traffic jam in a nearby bar. The impact of this behavior on traffic accidents wasn't mentioned, so I'm left to assume that responsible moderation is the rule rather than the exception in these situations.

Our last stop for the day was at Rum Gouverneur, a traditional Caribbean producer gathering select rums from across the island, then blending and aging them for a premium product. After a discussion and tasting of their hallmark spirit a few of us were invited to participate as guest mixologists to prepare Mai Tais for the group. Apparently I was the only one familiar with a cocktail shaker, and the only one who had ever mixed a Mai Tai. After filling my share of cups for the group, and discovering that no one wanted seconds (they were waiting for the flavored rum portion of the tasting) I enjoyed a rather healthy "tasting" of one of the better Mai Tais I've ever made. Their pre-made orgeat was surprisingly good, and the use of Cointreau instead of a basic Triple Sec when added to their aged rum was exceptionally rewarding. When we packed for this trip we didn't plan to purchase any alcohol, so none of our bottle protectors made the trip. There were so many rums to choose from I'm telling myself that I avoided angst and stress – choosing a single bottle, or even two, would have been challenging.

We returned to the ship with ample time to change into our swimsuits and take a dip in the solarium pool and enjoy a frozen beverage. Last year, on our transatlantic crossing, the solarium was stuffy and humid. This trip the windows and overhead vents have been open most of the time and the atmosphere is much more comfortable with the additional air flow.

Our dinner reservations were at Chops this evening, which was a bit sad after a day of constant nibbling. When we arrived the restaurant was nearly at capacity, but things appeared to be running well. We both defaulted to our "usual" appetizers (shrimp cocktail for her, tuna tartare for me) and they were just as we expected them to be. I know wedge salads are simple and far from elegant, but good bleu cheese and properly crispy bacon, all topped with fresh ground pepper, creates a sublime combination of flavors and textures I find irresistible. The lobster bisque was over-salted, which was disappointing. Our filets were perfectly cooked, and I did manage to finish an entire petite filet, but not by much. The baked potato (again, simple but satisfying) was the perfect combination of fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Creamed spinach was good, but not great, and the sautéd mushrooms were cooked to perfection and delicately seasoned. We finished it all off with a shared slice of red velvet cake – which was an odd choice for me, being a pie and ice-cream person, but it just looked good (and it was as good as it looked.)